A 17-year-old boy was taken into custody late Tuesday night after allegedly firing a gun inside a COTA bus in Downtown Columbus, an incident that ended without anyone getting hurt but has added yet another case to the city's climbing count of juvenile gun arrests. Columbus police officers responded to reports of gunfire coming from inside a bus near South High Street and East Fulton Street, and found the teen still sitting inside when they arrived.
According to NBC4 WCMH-TV, the teen was taken into custody without incident, and officers recovered a gun at the scene. He now faces charges of having weapons under disability, carrying a concealed weapon, and improper handling of a firearm. Police said the teen also faces other unrelated charges tied to separate outstanding arrest warrants. No injuries were reported from the shooting.
What the Weapons Charges Actually Mean
The having-weapons-under-disability charge is no minor add-on. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2923.13, the offense applies to people barred from possessing firearms because of prior felony indictments, convictions, or juvenile adjudications, and it's classified as a third-degree felony carrying up to 36 months in prison, according to FindLaw. Separately, Ohio Revised Code § 2923.16 bars knowingly discharging or transporting a loaded firearm inside a vehicle — including public buses — a standard laid out by Ohio Laws that appears to underpin the improper-handling charge in this case.
It's the latest example of a Downtown transit corridor grappling with gun incidents. In August 2023, a COTA bus on Line 8 was struck by gunfire near East 20th and Hamilton avenues in South Linden, and the driver was taken to a hospital as a precaution, per 10TV. Further back, in July 2020, Franklin County prosecutors indicted two young men on vandalism and inducing-panic charges after they fired a pellet gun into COTA bus windows Downtown, also reported by 10TV.
Juvenile Gun Arrests
The arrest comes after another recent case involving young people and firearms on a Columbus COTA bus. A KAKE News Facebook post reported 126 gun-related arrests of juveniles in Wichita in 2025. In late December 2025, Columbus police arrested five teenagers carrying firearms aboard a COTA bus after tracking them through Downtown, according to a report from 10TV.
The Franklin County Prosecutor's Office and the local juvenile court launched a pilot Juvenile Felony Diversion program in late 2025.
Whether Tuesday night's case stays in Franklin County Juvenile Court or gets bound over to adult court remains to be seen, particularly given the teen's outstanding warrants on unrelated charges. For now, police have confirmed only the charges already filed — weapons under disability, carrying a concealed weapon, and improper handling of a firearm — and say the shooting left no one injured.
